AKRON, Ohio, Oct. 14 (UPI) -- The greatest factor leading to weight loss in an obesity study was not what one ate but how much -- the key being "portion control."
That was the deduction of a 24-month federally-funded study led by Summa Health System researchers in Akron, Ohio, and published in the journal Obesity Research.
"Although we saw similar patterns of weight loss related to reduced dietary fat consumption, increased fruit and vegetable consumption, increased physical activity and increased planned exercise, the target behavior that induced the greatest weight loss was portion control," said Dr. Everett E. Logue, the lead researcher.
The study found that 38 percent of obese patients who consistently spent two years practicing food portion control lost 5 percent or more of their baseline weight.
Conversely, they concluded that 33 percent of patients who did not consistently practice portion control gained 5 percent or more of their baseline weight.
